Bad piece of software

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 11/08/2009 - 04:40
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This program deleteted almost all content of my 'home' directory. It deleteted folders 'Documents', 'Music', 'Pictures', 'Videos', all virutalbox machines I had installed. I have lost all data that I had been working on for 8 months. I don't recommend anyone to use this program because it will only cause loss of personal, bussiness and any kind of data you have in your home directory. This type of deletion should be prevented by any means.

andrew

Sun, 11/08/2009 - 07:08

Could you provide more information? Which operating system? Which version of BleachBit? Where did you download it? Which options did you turn on? Did you run a preview? Which kind of files were deleted? If you put any file in the same folders now and run a preview, does the file show?

While I understand how this could be upsetting, but what are are saying is so vague and hard to believe, it makes more sense you are confusing the effects with some force (maybe you deleted the files yourself accidentally about the same time or were using some other program). There have been 115,598 downloads from the main site, and many more downloads from other sources, so obviously this is not a common problem.

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Andrew, lead developer

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 11/09/2009 - 00:47

I am using Linux Mint 7 and have been deleting cache files manualy, but i decided to try this program to do it for me automaticly along deleting unnecessary temporary files. I downloaded Ubuntu (deb) version from this site a month ago but i haven't actually used it. Two days ago i decided to use it to free some space since i had only 4GB of free space left. When i started it it had all options selected. I deselected it all and selected only Opera, Firefox and temporary files (don't know if there was cache for some other programs or not). I run it without preview. It seemed OK.

Next day when i started my computer I saw that icons on my desktop were aranged differently. It was unexpected since I deselected desktop option in BleachBit, but OK. Big shock was when I opened my 'home' directory and saw that directories 'Documents', 'Music', 'Pictures', 'Photos', 'Videos' were missing. Quick look at available disk space showed about 80GB of free space. Shock after shock, virtualbox images are gone, all work i had done i last few months is gone, personal and business.

This is something that is not suppose to happen. I am very dissapointed since i have lost most of important data, documents, mail account passwords in Evolution, Firefox plugins, Songbird plugins and settings, all programming and testing i had done in virtual environment... and possibly more stuff i haven't yet discovered missing.

Luckily business documents is backed up on external drive daily and can be recovered.

Buttom of all, I have suffered loss.
I am very, very, very DISAPPOINTED and I will not recommend this program to anyone.

andrew

Mon, 11/09/2009 - 07:52

Thanks for writing back.

Based on "a month ago," it sounds like you maybe got version 0.6.5?

I deselected it all and selected only Opera, Firefox and temporary files (don't know if there was cache for some other programs or not).

By temporary files, I assume you mean the option under system? Do you keep your important files in /tmp or /var/tmp or ~/.cache? Otherwise, I don't see how BleachBit could be responsible.

Next day when i started my computer I saw that icons on my desktop were arranged differently

It seems like you enabled the Nautilus option.

saw that directories 'Documents', 'Music', 'Pictures', 'Photos', 'Videos' were missing

So to be specific, you lost *.jpg files in $HOME/Pictures ? And .mp3 files in ~/Music? That is basically impossible. If you put a *.jpg file in $HOME/Pictures and run a preview, does the file show in the preview?

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Andrew, lead developer

Anonymous (not verified)

Mon, 11/09/2009 - 14:19

Thank you for taking time to answer. I have uninstalled the program and will not use it again. Now I have to deal with current situation. I cannot explain how it happened, and will not try to provoke similar action, just presenting my experience. I have never used any programs like this before and never had such problem.

Bad things happen, maybe it was some kind of Linux virus that wipes out disk space (I doubt it) or Linux Mint glitch (doubt it too), but I still believe that it was BleachBit fault. Such huge amount of data cannot disappear by accident. Files were not deleted intentionally or accidently by myself. To do that, person should be very concentrated in what he is doing and in the end remember his actions.

This is my experience and I am presenting it to you. Hope nobody else will have same problem.

Best regards

corkymoo

Mon, 12/24/2012 - 14:24

Running any software for the first time can be a bit scary. Most script software is to lengthy and involved to follow and binary stuff is ML (buried). What I do is create a VM (virtual machine) copy of your system. Run it there to you feel secure and are happy with it. Then install it on your host. Make sure you make a copy of the VM. If something bad happens you can just delete the VM and load the copy in. Takes just a couple of minutes. I personally like BleachBit. It fills a void.

Thanks for BleachBit!

Yes and I can read time (3 years...)
go.to/moo